Competition Guidelines

Competitions are voluntary. Members may choose to enter all contests, some, or none. However, we believe that when members participate in competitions by entering an image, attending the meeting and listening to the judge’s critiques, it provides an excellent opportunity to learn and to grow as a photographer.

Charlotte Camera Club Quarterly Competitions

Charlotte Camera Club holds four Quarterly Competition and Critique nights and a final End of the Year Competition. Competition images must be digital. Quarterly Competitions are open to all members and one-time guests. Only entries submitted by the deadlines will be accepted. Subject matter is open to anything except nudes. Members must submit their own entries and no entries will be pulled during the competition. Unless otherwise specified, each photographer is allowed to submit one image for each Quarterly Competition & Critique. Each image will be evaluated and critiqued by a guest judge. An image may be entered once in Club competitions. Images entered in club competitions may also be entered into PSA competitions. Judges' award images selected in the Quarterly Competitions move on to the End of the Year Competition.

Awards

During the Quarterly Competitions, each image will be evaluated and critiqued by a guest judge. The guest judge will select his/her top images for that Competition. Those images will be recognized during the meeting and will receive a ribbon award. Images that receive a Judges' Award will move on to the End of the Year competition. Following the Quarterly Competitions, images will be displayed on the club website in the Competition Gallery and the results added to the Club Results web page.

Evaluating Images

Images will be evaluated based on their own merits, (e.g., a portrait evaluated by portrait standards, landscape by landscape standards, etc.) All Images compete together in the same category. Images may be monochrome or color. Judge's top picks will be announced at the conclusion of the critiques.

During the meeting, the guest judge will evaluate and critique the images based on the following elements:

Impact
Impact is the feeling one gets upon viewing an image for the first time. Compelling images evoke laughter,sadness, anger, pride, wonder or another intense emotion.

Subject Matter / Creativity
Subject Matter is the focal point of an image and should always be appropriate to the story being told.Creativity is when a photographer uses an original, freshperspective to view a subject or uses a new and unusual way of conveying an idea, message or thought.

Composition
Composition is important to the design of an image. It brings all of the visual elements together in harmony to help tell the story or support the purpose of the image. Good composition guides the viewer to look where the photographer intends. Good composition also eliminates elements which distract from the image story. The composition can be pleasing or disturbing, depending on the intent of the photographer.

Technical Merit
The technical aspects of an image (e.g. focus, exposure, depth of field, color balance, level horizons, effective cropping and post-processing) when used properly and skillfully, enable the photographer to tell the story and create a high quality image.

Year End Competition

Images that receive a Judge's Award in the Quarterly Competitions will move on to the End of the Year Competition. A panel of outside judges will score the images. The following Awards will be recognized at the Members' Dinner:

Image of the Year – The image receiving the highest combined score of the judging panel. Awards will also be given recognizing the 2nd and 3rd place images.

Judges’ Special Awards – Each judge will select their favorite image for specific categories. Total awards based on the number of outside judges. Selections are based on the judges' preference, not overall score.